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Terms of use of BARMER for participation in the rewards programme (www.barmer-empfehlen.de)

1. Rewards program

The rewards programme is offered by BARMER, Axel-Springer-Straße 44, 10969 Berlin. The purpose of the programme is to recommend membership of the statutory health insurance scheme with BARMER and the associated collection of points. Participants can exchange points collected for successful memberships for rewards in accordance with the current version of the following terms of use. Legal interpretation of the terms of use remain exclusively with the German language version.

1.1 Conditions of participation
All natural persons resident in Germany ("Participants") are eligible to participate. The press, distributors and companies whose internal guidelines exclude participation in such rewards programmes are excluded from participation. Each Participant may only register once for participation. There is no entitlement to admission to participation.

The Participant is only obliged to make a recommendation if the prior express consent of the recipient of the recommendation has already been obtained at the time of dispatch.

1.2 Registration and start of participation

Participation is free and voluntary. To participate in the rewards programme, the Participant must register via www.barmer-empfehlen.de and accept these terms and conditions of use. By registering, the Participant confirms that he/she fulfils all the present participation requirements for each future recommendation and that all the information provided during registration is correct. Changes to the personal and business data provided during registration must be reported to BARMER immediately via the personal area.

BARMER is authorised to request additional documents from Participants as proof of eligibility. BARMER may exclude Participants from participation at any time if the Participant is unable to provide suitable proof of fulfilment of the participation requirements. Points can only be collected once the Participant has been authenticated by BARMER. The referral programme is a long-term programme. Participation is therefore permanent unless it is terminated in accordance with these terms and conditions or the rewards programme is terminated in accordance with these terms and conditions.

1.3 Registration and start of participation

You have the right to cancel your participation in the rewards programme within fourteen days of registration without giving reasons. Please inform us of your cancellation by sending a clear statement to empfehlen@barmer.de. By cancelling your declaration of participation, your participation will be terminated. The personal referral link for ongoing referrals will be deactivated, the points collected will expire and no rewards can be claimed.

2. Collecting points

The Participant is given the opportunity at www.barmer-empfehlen.de to act as a referrer to the referral recipient in relation to a membership with BARMER. The referral recipient can conclude memberships via the referral link received from the Participant on the corresponding BARMER landing page. Memberships that are not concluded by the referral recipient via the referral link received from the referrer cannot be considered in the programme.

2.1 Amount of the bonus

For each successful membership, 2,500 points are credited to the Participant's points account. These points can be exchanged for non-cash rewards or a cash bonus of 25.00 euros. Membership is deemed to have been established when it is effectively established, i.e. when the new member is effectively insured with BARMER without the possibility of cancellation.

2.2 Points crediting and calculation basis

Every Participant in the points programme can collect points in a Participant account in accordance with the following provisions:

- The recommended person belongs to the group of persons eligible to join the programme and a new membership with BARMER is established.

and

- The participating and recommended persons are not identical

2.3 Points expiry

Points collected in a calendar year must be redeemed by 31 December of the following year. Points not redeemed by then will expire. Points can also be redeemed after 31 December of each year.

3. Points account and points balance

The points balance can only be viewed by the participating, registered user with the appropriate authorisation. Any objections to the accuracy or completeness of the points balance must be submitted by e-mail to the Participant's specified contact person in the personal area within one month of the points being shown on the Participant's points account at the latest. Later objections will not be considered. Points may not be transferred to another Participant's account.

4. Points redemption

4.1 General

Every Participant whose points account has a corresponding credit balance is entitled to rewards, whereby only participating, registered users with corresponding authorisation can redeem points. If a points account does not have a sufficient points balance for a selected reward, additional payments can be made. Points can only be redeemed online in a rewards shop operated by Goldmarie & Friends GmbH (rewards processing service provider - registration required). The rewards listed there can be ordered at the points values stated in each case; errors, misprints and changes are reserved. The GTCs, which can be viewed and saved at www.barmer-empfehlen.de/AGB, also apply to the redemption of points in the rewards shop. Rewards will be issued while stocks last. If a reward is no longer available or no longer available in the desired form (colour, shape, etc.) after an order has been placed, points will not be redeemed for the purpose of granting a reward and the corresponding points will be credited back to the Participant's account. Rewards cannot be exchanged (e.g. if they are not to your liking).

4.2 Dispatch of rewards

Rewards can only be delivered within Germany to an official address of the Participant and are generally dispatched within 2 to 5 days of receipt of the order.

5. Liability

5.1 Limitation of liability

BARMER is liable, irrespective of the legal grounds, exclusively in accordance with the following provisions.

(1) BARMER is only liable for wilful intent and gross negligence. BARMER shall only be liable for slight negligence in the event of a breach of a material contractual obligation, the fulfilment of which is essential for the proper performance of the contract and on the observance of which the Participant may regularly rely (cardinal obligation). BARMER is only liable for foreseeable damages that can typically be expected to occur. This also applies to loss of profit and loss of savings. Liability for other remote consequential damages is excluded.

(2) The limitation of BARMER's liability does not apply in the event of injury to life, limb and/or health and in the event of liability under the Product Liability Act (German „Produkthaftungsgesetz“)

(3) BARMER shall not be liable for events of force majeure which render the contractual services impossible or which only significantly impede or temporarily hinder the proper fulfilment of the contract. Force majeure includes all circumstances that are independent of the will and influence of the parties, such as terrorist attacks, embargoes, confiscation, natural disasters, pandemics with restrictions on economic traffic, strikes, decisions by authorities or other serious and unforeseeable circumstances for which the contracting parties are not responsible. A circumstance is only deemed to be force majeure if it occurs after conclusion of the contract.

(4) Furthermore, BARMER shall not be liable for disruptions and loss of quality of data transmission on the Internet for which BARMER is not responsible and which impede or prevent the use of platform functions.

(5) Insofar as BARMER's liability is excluded or limited, this also applies to the liability of BARMER's employees, other staff, representatives and vicarious agents.

5.2 Liability of Participants

The Participant indemnifies BARMER against all third-party claims that could arise in particular from the violation of data protection, competition or other property rights in connection with the use of the rewards programme for which BARMER is responsible, insofar as the Participant is responsible for these violations. This also includes the necessary costs of legal defence. Otherwise, the Participant is liable in accordance with the statutory provisions.

5.3 Tax aspects

The Participant is responsible for the tax relevance of premiums. BARMER or Goldmarie & Friends GmbH will not tax the rewards. By registering, the Participant therefore declares that he/she is aware that taxes, duties or other contributions may have to be paid when redeeming points. The Participant agrees to bear all such costs alone and accepts that BARMER or Goldmarie & Friends GmbH are in no way liable for them or have to reimburse the Participant for any costs incurred.

6. Cancellation

6.1 Cancellation by the Participant

Participation in the rewards programme can be terminated by the Participant at any time without notice by sending a message in text form to the specified contact person in the personal area. In this case, accumulated points will expire at the time the cancellation takes effect.

6.2 Cancellation by BARMER

Cancellation by BARMER is only possible with a notice period of 3 months to the end of the month with effect for the future. In this case, accumulated points expire at the time the cancellation by BARMER takes effect. If there is good cause, cancellation by BARMER is also possible with immediate effect. In this case, the points of the Participant concerned will expire without replacement with immediate effect. Such good cause exists in particular if the Participant seriously violates essential terms of use, abuses the rewards programme, insolvency proceedings are opened against his/her assets or rejected for lack of assets, or he/she discontinues his/her business operations.

7. Discontinuation of the points programme and amendment of the terms of use

7.1 Termination and modification of the rewards programme

BARMER reserves the right to discontinue, amend or change the rewards programme or replace it with another programme without prior notice, taking due account of the interests of the Participants. If the rewards programme is discontinued or replaced, points collected up to the point of discontinuation or replacement can still be redeemed within 3 months of discontinuation or replacement in accordance with section 4.

7.2 Amendment of the terms of use

BARMER also reserves the right to amend or supplement these terms of use insofar as this is necessary in the interests of simple and secure processing and in particular to prevent misuse and Participants are not disadvantaged contrary to good faith. Amendments or additions to these Terms of Use shall be announced by notification in text form. An amendment is deemed to have been approved if Participants do not object within one month of notification and thus terminate their participation in the rewards programme. BARMER will draw attention to this option again separately in the notification of change. The current version of the terms and conditions is available at BARMER.de/recommend (login required).

8. Data protection and competition law

BARMER is responsible for all personal data processing required for participation (Participant account) and implementation (points crediting, redemption and rewards dispatch) in the rewards programme. By registering for the points programme, the Participant agrees that their sales data (see section 2.1) will be passed on by the authorised distributors to BARMER or a third party commissioned by BARMER for the purpose of points calculation and verification and that BARMER will pass on the points balance to Goldmarie & Friends GmbH for the purpose of processing points redemption. The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR.

Registration for the rewards programme also includes the use of the Participant's email address to send communications relating to the points programme. Sending can be cancelled at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic rates by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the communication.

Further information on data protection rights and contact details can be found at https://www.barmer.de/datenschutz.

9. Other

9.1 Applicable law, place of jurisdiction

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to the exclusion of the conflict of laws provisions and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Wuppertal.

9.2 Severability clause

Should any provision of these Terms of Use be or become invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Use. The same applies if and insofar as a loophole is found in these terms of use. In place of the invalid or unenforceable provision or to fill the loophole, the valid, enforceable and appropriate provision that comes closest in legal and economic terms to what the parties would have wanted economically according to the meaning and purpose of the Terms of Use if they had considered this point when agreeing these Terms of Use shall be deemed to have been agreed with retroactive effect.